§9.1.1etsi cum tu has litteras legeres putabam fore ut scirem iam quid Brundisi actum esset (nam Canusio viiii Kal. profectus erat Gnaeus; haec autem scribebam pridie Nonas xiiii die post quam ille Canusio moverat), tamen angebar singularum horarum exspectatione mirabarque nihil adlatum esse ne rumoris quidem; nam erat mirum silentium.
Although I thought that by the time you read this letter I should already know what had been done at Brundisium (for Gnaeus had set out from Canusium on the ninth day before the Kalends, and I was writing this on the day before the Nones, the fourteenth day after he had moved from Canusium), yet I was tormented by the expectation of every single hour, and I wondered that nothing had been brought, not even a rumor; for there was a strange silence.
sed haec fortasse κενόσπουδα sunt, quae tamen iam sciantur necesse est;
But these things are perhaps trifles, though it is necessary that they are already known by now.
§9.1.2illud molestum me adhuc investigare non posse ubi P. Lentulus noster sit, ubi Domitius.
It is a troublesome thing that I cannot yet find out where our Publius Lentulus is, or where Domitius is.
quaero autem, quo facilius scire possim quid acturi sint, iturine ad Pompeium et, si sunt, qua quandove ituri sint.
But I am asking, so that I may more easily know what they are going to do, whether they are going to Pompey, and, if they are, by what route and when they are going.
urbem quidem iam refertam esse optimatium audio, Sosium et Lupum quos Gnaeus noster ante putabat Brundisium venturos esse quam se ius dicere.
Indeed, I hear that the city is already packed with the optimates, and that Sosius and Lupus are there, whom our Gnaeus once thought would arrive at Brundisium before he administered justice.
hinc vero vulgo vadunt; etiam M'. Lepidus quocum diem conterere solebam cras cogitabat.
But from here they are going in crowds; even Manius Lepidus, with whom I used to spend the day, is thinking of starting tomorrow.
§9.1.3nos autem in Formiano morabamur, quo citius audiremus; deinde Arpinum volebamus; inde iter qua maxime ἀπάντητον esset ad mare superum remotis sive omnino missis lictoribus.
But we were staying in our villa at Formiae, so that we might hear more quickly; next we wanted to go to Arpinum; thence to make our journey to the Upper Sea by a route as free as possible from meetings, having removed or altogether dismissed our lictors.
audio enim bonis viris qui et nunc et saepe antea magno praesidio rei publicae fuerunt hanc cunctationem nostram non probari multaque in me et severe in conviviis tempestivis quidem disputari.
For I hear that our hesitation is not approved of by the good men, who both now and often before have been a great protection to the republic, and that many things are discussed about me, and that severely, in their timely banquets.
cedamus igitur et, ut boni cives simus, bellum Italiae terra marique inferamus et odia improborum rursus in nos quae iam exstincta erant incendamus et Luccei consilia ac Theophani persequamur.
Let us yield then, and, that we may be good citizens, let us bring war upon Italy by land and sea, and rekindle against ourselves the hatred of the wicked which had already been extinguished, and let us follow the counsels of Lucceius and Theophanes.
§9.1.4nam Scinio vel in Syriam proficiscitur sorte vel cum genero honeste vel Caesarem fugit iratum.
For Scinio either sets out for Syria by lot, or creditably with his son-in-law, or is fleeing from an angry Caesar.
Marcelli quidem, nisi gladium Caesaris timuissent, manerent.
The Marcelli indeed, if they had not feared the sword of Caesar, would remain.
Appius est eodem in timore et inimicitiarum recentium etiam.
Appius is in the same fear, and also because of recent enmities.
praeter hunc et C. Cassium reliqui legati, Faustus pro quaestore; ego unus cui utrumvis licet.
Except for him and Gaius Cassius, the rest of the legates are Faustus as pro-quaestor; I am the only one for whom either course is open.
frater accedit quem socium huius fortunae esse non erat aequum. cui magis etiam Caesar irascetur, sed impetrare non possum ut maneat.
My brother is added to the number, whom it was not fair to make a partner of this fortune; Caesar will be even more angry with him, but I cannot obtain his consent to remain.
dabimus hoc Pompeio quoi debemus.
We shall grant this to Pompey, to whom we are indebted.
nam me quidem alius nemo movet, non sermo bonorum qui nulli sunt, non causa quae acta timide est, agetur improbe.
For indeed no one else moves me, not the talk of the good who are non-existent, nor the cause which has been conducted timidly and will be conducted wickedly.
uni, uni hoc damus ne id quidem roganti nec suam causam, ut ait, agenti sed publicam.
To one, to one man we grant this, who does not even ask for it, nor, as he says, is conducting his own cause, but the public one.
tu quid cogites de transeundo in Epirum scire sane velim.
I should indeed like to know what you think about crossing over to Epirus.